I have been feeling miserable since I got back.  The combination of jet lag, being back to reality and a funeral have not made me happy.  So I over ate yesterday and then felt worse.

So today I decided to work from home and seek inspiration from my recent trip.  I think I mentioned previously that Keven and Debbie were very inspiring because they eat healthily and exercise every day.  So I decided to follow their shining example.

I was awake early anyway and took the dogs for a walk with Lara.

We walked in the woods over the road.  The geenery is the opposite to the Australian rainforests we have enjoyed recently.  In a rainforest, there is very little growing on the ground and the trees grow tall to fight through the canopy for sunlight.  The canopy almost completely blocks sunlight so the rainforests are quite dark.  Here the vegetation on the trees is sparse, providing sufficient sunlight for the ferns to thrive.

On the menu on the KD Diet for breakfast was stir fried vegetables with a small portion of brown Basmati rice and 2 eggs.

I picked these lovely Swiss Chard leaves from the garden. I chopped up the Swiss Chard stalks separately and stir fried them first with cabbage, red onion and red pepper. I then added tomato and mushrooms and finally the shredded Swiss Chard leaves. I stir fried with coconut oil which provides a pleasant coconut flavour. When all the vegetables were cooked I added the rice and then served it in a large bowl.  I cooked the egg last and stirred it in to the vegetables and rice. This was a huge bowl of food but nothing to feel guilty about because it was mainly vegetables.  I seasoned it with some Himalaya salt and then some soy sauce.  It was delicious.

I had no blood sugar rises and felt full all morning and in to the afternoon.  I didn’t have anything else to eat until 4pm. I drank a black coffee and green tea instead of my usual latte and black tea with milk.  I was really surprised how sated I felt because I am usually hungry by Midday. I was going to skip lunch and wait until supper but then decided to have a simple snack style lunch.  I used some of the Dukkah I bought in the market on Saturday morning. I ate it with celery, cherry tomatoes, black olives and some humous. I originally intended to have a large salad with salmon for lunch, which is what Keven and Debbie would have served but I didn’t fancy it and decided to have that for supper instead. I had a sore throat and felt very weary in the afternoon so I made a cup of Lemon Myrtle tea with a spoonful of active Manuka honey.  I should not have had anything sweet but honey is really good for a sore throat.  I definitely felt perkier afterwards and I love the intense lemon/lime scent of the Lemon Myrtle.

For supper I had the salad and salmon I meant to have at lunch time with a jacket potato.

To make a KD salad you grate beetroot and carrot in to a large bowl.  You can add radish too but I didn’t fancy it today.  I used raw beetroot.  I thought I would explain that as I took this salad to work yesterday and one of my colleagues was surprised I would eat raw beetroot.  I am surprised anyone would want to cook it! Add lots of green leaves ( I used a mixture of lettuces, pea shoots and watercress) and any other veggies you fancy (cucumber and sugar snap peas).  I tried to use vegetables I had not eaten at breakfast to increase the variety. Make a salad dressing.  I made one from Hugh F-W’s ‘Veg! Everyday’ which is as follows:
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
salt and pepper
1 tbsp cider vinegar
5 tbsp oil ( I used 3 olive, 1 avocado and 1 flax)
Put all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake until well mixed.

Pour over salad and combine well.  I used approximately half the quantity of dressing I had made up which was shared between myself and Harvey.  My salad was about 3 times larger then his and so is the amount of dressing I had. Serve with a jacket potato and salmon.  I did add butter to my potato.

So having followed the KD Diet I feel good. I have eaten a huge amount of vegetables, no fruit and apart from 1 tsp Manuka Honey, no added sugar.  Until I added some butter I had not eaten any dairy either which is my other weakness, alongside sugar.  I have not felt hungry either so I am going to do this again.  Thank you Keven and Debbie for the inspiration.